Project Conclusion

Sadly, this is my final blog post as the project ended on August 15th. I have learned so much, met so many amazing people, and had an incredible time rediscovering freed African Americans, and their stories, from such an important time in American history. The lives and stories of African Americans in this country and the struggles they faced in the past, as well as the present, are an intrinsic part of America's historic quilt and our Nation's public narrative. These men and women single-handedly built most of the South, all without any recompense. Before the end of the Civil War when slavery was abolished it was only at the will of their "masters" that they were released, but this was a rarity and only a dream for most enslaved people. The names found in this project were of people who came from as close as Kentucky to as far away as South Carolina to live their lives as free members of society. While working on this project I decided to create a Story Map based on my findings. The map is broken down into individual counties and allows the viewer to see from where the freed men, women, and children were coming. The story accompanying the map also goes a little more in-depth than I have provided in this blog.

Working papers for the project.

After completion, the total number of names of Free Blacks from the counties of Champaign, Clark, Greene, Logan, and Montgomery equaled 427. There must have certainly been more, but, unfortunately, those records have been either lost to time or remain hidden from me. The county with the highest number of records was Greene County, revealing 184 Manumission, Emancipation, or Freedom Paper records. Logan County was a close second with 163 records.

The flags of America, Ohio, and Logan County over a county building.

The county with the least amount of records, surprisingly, was Montgomery County. I was only able to find the names of 14 free Blacks for Montgomery County, which is a considerably low number. Speaking with the Tina Ratcliff, Records Manager for the Montgomery County Records Center and Archives, led me to the conclusion that the lack of records could be due to the flooding that downtown Dayton was subject to prior to proper dam placement, plus the Great Flood of 1913. Just above Montgomery County was Clark County with 28 records.

Downtown Dayton seen from the observation point at Woodland Cemetery.

Once again, I would like to thank the Ohio Historical Records Advisory Board (OHRAB) for allowing me to work on this incredible project. I would also like to thank the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) for the grant they awarded OHRAB to make this project possible.
I hope you all enjoyed this journey as much as I did. Thanks for reading and be good!

Week 10: WSU's Archives - Montgomery County

This week I headed back to Wright State University's Dunbar Library to search Montgomery County Township records in their Special Collections and Archives. WSU's Special Collections and Archives holds many local government records for counties that do not have an archival repository. However, their most famous collection is the Wright Brothers Collection. Seven sections of materials concerning the Wright Brothers are housed in the archives including photographs, phonographs, family papers, technical manuscripts, awards, and more.

Special Collections and Archives reading room.

But it was the township records, not the Wright Brother Collection, I was there to see. I looked through 13 Justice of the Peace minute books for the townships of Van Buren, Clay, German, Jackson, and Perry.

A page from a Van Buren Township Justice of the Peace minute book.

I found some interesting entries in the minute books. Women taking their husbands to court for abuse, bastardy cases, indebtedness cases, and even the occasional attempted murder charge. I also found that someone had a case of the doodles when bored.

A page in a township book showing mathematics and doodles.

I also found a practice sheet of paper for someone practicing their handwriting. It read, "Begin in youth to fix virtuous habits in the mind."

Paper used for handwriting practice.

Unfortunately, for all the pages I thumbed and entries I read, my search for Manumission records came up empty. It seems that the photocopied handful in the Montgomery County Records Center and Archives might be the only ones that have survived. The lack of records is disheartening as is the fact that the only Manumission records in existence were found in the back of a stray animal book. It is hard to see people, human beings, treated that way. Although it could be that the records were lost in the Great Flood of 1913 or even thrown away after the end of the Civil War when African Americans no longer needed to register as free people. We may never know the answer.
Well, that is all I have for this week. I hope you all enjoyed and please join me next week when I make my final post. It has been an incredible adventure, so please don't miss out on the finale.
Thanks, and be good!

Week 9: Montgomery County

Montgomery County was created from parts of Ross and Hamilton Counties in March of 1803, and is named after Revolutionary War General Richard Montgomery. Montgomery County, whose seat is Dayton, was once home to several famous people and industries such as: The Wright Bicycle Shop, owned and operated by Wilbur and Orville Wright; The National Cash Register Company (NCR), opened by John Patterson; Ohio Governors James Cox and Charles Anderson; African American poet Paul Lawrence Dunbar; Orville Wright; John Patterson; Charles F. Kettering; and many, many more. Perhaps the most historically memorable moment for Montgomery County, and Dayton, was the Great Flood of 1913.

Downtown Dayton as seen from the lookout at Woodland Cemetery.

The Great Flood is well outside the parameters of my research, however. This week I was in downtown Dayton at the Reibold Building to search the Montgomery County Records Center and Archives, located on the 6th floor, for traces of free Blacks in the county. The Montgomery County Archives consists of two floors - the 6th and the 9th - the 6th floor being where the general records are as well as the archivist, Tina Ratcliff, and her extraordinary team.

Inside the Montgomery County Archives.

I began my search in the deed records. The vast amount of deed records housed in the archives in unsurprising considering how populated, and how industrialized, Dayton became once the Miami and Erie Canal was complete thus connecting Dayton to Cincinnati. While the deed records had been carefully transcribed I found no entries for Blacks being freed via deed so I began searching the Clerk of Court minute books.

Inside the Montgomery County Archives.

I scoured through page after page of minute books and found nothing. Tina Ratcliff, archivist for Montgomery County, gave me some advice as to where I might find some entries, telling me that I should check individual township books. She also mentioned that anything could have happened to Montgomery County's Black and Mulatto Registry, including being destroyed in the 1913 flood. Once again, I needed to make my way back to Wright State University's Special Collections and Archives.

Before I left, however, Ms. Ratcliff pulled out an archival box from a shelf and sat it down on a table in the reading room. In it was some historical documents, a probate record for John Dillinger (not THE John Dillinger), a couple of photographs, and a photocopy of a stray animal record book. I read the small, tattered label on the photocopied cover and realized the book's importance. The label read, "Stray Book A No. 1 & Record of Free Negros Montgomery Common Pleas."

Montgomery County Common Pleas Stray Animal and Free Negro Record.

Scribbled in the back of the book like an afterthought was the names of fourteen African Americans who had come to the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas to enter their names as free Blacks. All these men and women had come from different parts of Virginia between 1804 and 1805, right after the county was created, and were choosing to make their homes in Montgomery County, Ohio.

A page inside the registry.

As heartbreaking as it is to see the names appear in a stray animal registry, it is comforting to see them appear at all. Well, that's all I have for this week. I hope you enjoyed, and please join me next week as I make one final return to Wright State University's Special Collections and Archives.

Thanks, and be good!